Geography Sample Files

Geography notes fully revised & updated by 2019

The fully revised and updated edition of Geography for GS is planned to be released by Jan 2019.

Users that purchase the Geography notes today will get the upcoming updated version at no extra cost.

Short notes for quick revision.

From 2019 we will be posting a short version of each notes.

The short notes will be helpful for quick revision before the exam.

We are also planning to give related current affairs on a monthly or bi-weekly basis as value addition if we can get enough subscribers.

Geography Contents

Geomorphology

Earth’s Interior – Earthquake Waves – Shadow Zone

Earth’s Layers – Earth’s Composition

Earth Movements – Endogenetic Movements

Weathering – Exogenetic Earth Movements

Continental Drift Theory – Tectonics

See Floor Spreading – Paleomagnetism

Plate Tectonics – Indian Plate Movement

Ocean – Ocean Convergence

Continent – Ocean Convergence

Continent – Continent Convergence

Types of Mountains – Classification of Mountains

Fold Mountains – Block Mountains

Himalayas – Andes – Rockies – Urals – Drakensberg

Divergent Boundary – African Rift System

Volcanism – Andesitic, Basaltic – Geyser, Spring

Volcanic Landforms – Extrusive, Intrusive

Volcanism Types Based on Out Flow of Lava

Hotspot Volcanism – Hawaiian, Reunion Hotspot

Earthquakes – Seismic Waves

Tsunami – 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

Rocks – Igneous – Sedimentary – Metamorphic

Fluvial Erosional Landforms – River Valley

Fluvial Depositional Landforms – Delta Types

Glacial Landforms – Erosional and Depositional

Marine Landforms – Coastlines

Arid Landforms – Wind Eroded – Water Eroded

Karst Landforms – Stalactite, Stalagmite

Lake – Classification of Lakes

Important Lakes on Earth – Facts About Lakes

Plateaus Types – Major Plateaus of The World

Climatology and Climatic Regions

Latitudes and Longitudes – Standard Time

Rotation and Revolution of Earth

Atmosphere – Role, Structure, Composition

Temperature Distribution on Earth – Heat Budget

Adiabatic Lapse Rate – Latent Heat of Condensation

Pressure Belts and Wind Systems

Wind Movement – Coriolis Force

Winds – Permanent, Secondary, Local Winds

Temperature Inversion – Types – Effects on Weather

Jet Streams – Geostrophic Wind

Subtropical Jet Stream – Polar Jet Stream

Air Mass – Air Masses Classification

Fronts – Types of Fronts – Occluded Front

Humidity – Relative Humidity – Dew point

Condensation – Forms of Condensation – Clouds

Photochemical smog – Sulfurous smog

Types of Precipitation and Rainfall

Thunderstorm – Thunder Lightning – Tornado

Tropical Cyclones – Favorable Conditions, Formation

Storm Surge – Cyclones in the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal

Temperate Cyclones – Mid Latitude Cyclone

Tropical Cyclones vs. Temperate Cyclones

El Nino – ENSO – La Nina – El Nino Modoki – IOD

Polar Vortex – Ozone Hole – Ozone Depletion

Rainforest Climate – Tropical Evergreen Climate

Monsoon Climate – Monsoon Forests

Savanna Climate – Tropical Wet Dry Climate

Desert Climate – Hot Deserts, Mid-Latitude Deserts

Steppe Climate – Temperate Grassland Climate

Mediterranean Climate – Western Margin Climate

China Type Climate – Gulf Type, Natal Type

British Type Climate – European Maritime Climate

Taiga Climate – Coniferous forests – Lumbering

Laurentian Climate | Fishing off Newfoundland, Japan

Tundra Climate – Polar Climate – Arctic Climate

Oceanography

Ocean Relief – Major Ocean Relief Features

Marginal Seas – Bay, Gulf, Strait, Isthmus

Pacific Ocean – Atlantic Ocean – Indian Ocean

Ocean currents – Factors responsible – Effects

Pacific Ocean Currents – Phytoplankton

Atlantic Ocean Currents – Sargasso Sea

Indian Ocean Currents – Effect of Monsoons

Temperature Distribution of Oceans

Ocean Salinity – Vertical, Horizontal Distribution

Tides | Spring Tide, Neap Tide | Tidal Bore

Coral Reef – Fringing Reef | Barrier Reef | Atoll

Coral Bleaching | Zooxanthellae

Indian Geography

Geography Notes PDF – UPSC IAS Civil Services Exam

India – Geographical Extent, Frontiers

Indian Rock System

Himalayas – Himalayan Ranges

Himalayas – Regional Divisions

Himalayas – Glaciers, Valleys, Snowline

Mountain Passes – India & Himalayas

Indo – Gangetic – Brahmaputra Plain

Divisions of Indo – Gangetic – Brahmaputra Plains

Peninsular Plateau – Deccan Plateau

Aravalis-Vindhyas-Satpuras-Western & Eastern Ghats

Coastline of India – Coastal Plains of India

Indian Islands – Andaman-Nicobar-Lakshadweep-New Moore

Drainage Patterns – Discordant-Concordant

Drainage Systems of India

Indus River System – Jhelum-Chenab-Ravi-Beas-Satluj

Ganga – Brahmaputra River System

Peninsular River System vs. Himalayan River System

Godavari – Krishna – Mahanadi

Cauvery – Pennar – Subarnarekha – Ponnaiyar – Vaigai

Narmada – Tapti – Sabarmati – Mahi – Luni – Ghaggar

Indian Monsoons – ITCZ – Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone

Indian Monsoon Mechanism – Jet Stream Theory

Indian Monsoons – Easterly Jet, Tibet, Somali Jet

Indian Monsoons – South West, North East Monsoons

Western Disturbances – Cloudburst

Indian Climate – Climate of India

Winter Season – Summer Season – Indian Climate

South West Monsoon Season

Retreating Monsoon – North East Monsoon

Climatic Regions of India – Stamp’s, Koeppen’s

Forests – Natural Vegetation of India

Soil Profile – Soil Horizon – Soil Types

Soil formation in Indian Conditions

Alluvial Soils – Black Soils – Soil Types

Red Soils – Lateritic Soils – Alkaline Soils

Soil Degradation -Soil Erosion – Desertification

Soil Conservation – Various Methods

Economic Geography

Iron Ore Distribution across the World

Iron Ore Distribution in India

Coal – Formation of Coal – Types of Coal

Coal in India – Gondwana Coal – Tertiary Coal

Distribution of Coal across the World

Petroleum and Mineral Oil in India

Petroleum and Mineral Oil – World distribution

Natural Gas Distribution – World, India

Shale Gas | Coalbed Methane

Manganese ore Distribution – India, World

Gold | Silver Distribution – India & World

Copper | Nickel | Chromite Distribution

Bauxite | Lead & Zinc | Tungsten | Pyrites

Nuclear Fission | Nuclear Reactor Types

Uranium | Thorium – Distribution

India’s Three-Stage Nuclear Power Programme

Diamond | Graphite – Distribution India, World

Mica | Limestone | Non-Metallic Minerals in India

How to approach this notes?

You must first analyse the previous years’ prelims and mains papers to understand the pattern and nature of questions asked from Geography.

Use DOC file to make short notes for quick revision for both Prelims and Mains. This way you can save a lot of time.

UPSC is changing the nature of the questions from year to year. There is no fixed rule. Future question papers can have predominantly Static or Dynamic knowledge-based questions or a mix of both. Don’t take chances, cover both.

You must also focus on Environment related concepts like pollution, climate change, etc. from my Environment notes.

Are this notes useful for Geography Optional?

Yes, it can be quite useful for creating a good base for Geography Optional. Basics are the key to quickly grasp Physical Geography concepts.

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4 out of 5

More efforts are needed.

khan.moin716 (verified owner)–April 24, 2018

Material is very good. But the economic geography needs the timely update of data, the data is not well updated. I will also recommend the more coverage of material in the other disciplines of geography like; population geography, urban geography, geography through maps, rural geography etc.

4 out of 5

Ultimate

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–April 28, 2018

Hello Rajesh, the notes does cover NCERTs and other major sources.
“Instead of doing pdf’s make book hence it will be more effective”
At present it is not feasible to bring the notes in hardcopy. I will consider it future.

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5 out of 5

Awesome

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–May 5, 2018

Thank you for the review Sameeran. Good luck with CSE 🙂

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5 out of 5

Best Compilation

Shireesh Yash Mathur (verified owner)–May 9, 2018

They’re best suited for the aspirants of CSE.
Notes are a combination of all the best materials available in the market ,as far as I’ve seen notes of institutions,PMF’s notes are way better as they provide diagrams/visuals whatever you want to to call it,which are very helpful in retaining the concepts for a longer duration.
Thankyou PMFIAS !
Kudos.

Bhagavat Geeta for UPSC Geography

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–May 12, 2018

Thank you Shivaprakash. Good luck with CSE 🙂

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4 out of 5

Good for GS

Shyam (verified owner)–March 20, 2018

Dear sir
I have gone through ur material it was nicely structured in simple understanding manner.
Here is my request u to this is enough for GS but who r opted Geography as a optional this material will not be enough again we have to go through Savindra sing, Majid Hussain and Gocheng Leong so please arrange the material all at one stop
Thanking you

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–March 20, 2018

Thank you for your review Shyam.
I have cleared mentioned that the notes is only for GS. For optional you need a lot more. I had plans to make notes on Geo Optional also but I couldn’t really focus on that. I will try to make it before UPSC 2019. I hope you won’t be needing it then.
Thanks and Good luck with CSE 🙂

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4 out of 5

Dishant (verified owner)–February 25, 2018

Great work. With pictures and animations, you’re notes help in better visualisation. And also the content is quite elaborated. So thanks a lot.

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–March 14, 2018

Thank you for your review Nishikant.
I had plans to bring notes on Geo optional but I couldn’t execute the plan for 2018. I will try to do it for 2019. I hope you won’t need it then.

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5 out of 5

A well researched material.

YOGESH YADAV –March 15, 2018

These notes are 100% effective for both types of aspirants, one who is reading it for the first time or the one who is revising the subject irrespective of material he followed before.
I deeply thank pmfias team for doing such a great job.

Best geography notes for UPSC

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–March 27, 2018

Thank you for the review Shreyan. Good luck with CSE 🙂

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5 out of 5

One stop solution for gs-Geography

lokesh nandal (verified owner)–March 28, 2018

Notes are really good. See the pmf video of a topic first and then read the topic from notes, it will help in better understanding and will be time saving. I would recommend these notes instead of any book as they have everything you need.

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–March 28, 2018

Thank you for the comprehensive review Lokesh. Actually videos didn’t come really well. I used very poor microphone and software back then. I hope to do them better next time.
Good luck with CSE 🙂

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2 out of 2 people found this helpful

5 out of 5

Clearly explaining the core concepts

Aravint (verified owner)–June 17, 2018

I didn’t read it completely. But so far what I read is good and clearly explaining the core concepts. As far as improvements concerned it would be better to attach the previous mains geography questions and answers from this PDF and also for prelims. This will give some confidence to the Readers. thank you.

All in one package for UPSC GS Geography

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–June 16, 2018

Thank you for the review Sethulakshmi. Good luck 🙂

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3 out of 3 people found this helpful

5 out of 5

Awesome, excellent, a must have

Ajay Shukla (verified owner)–June 16, 2018

These notes are very comprehensive, covers all aspects and finer points of ncert as well as advanced books. For new ones read ncerts and add value from this no need to read g c leong or any other book for general studies though one may feel its lengthy but its good. The best thing is the explanation with pictures related to the topic. Last thing is the price of these notes is very minimal don’t think just buy this.

One thing for the writer of this book – please keep updating the book with pre and mains upsc questions and their explanation.

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–June 16, 2018

Thank you Ajay.
I am working on updating the notes. I hope to post it by Jan 2019.
Good luck 🙂

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One person found this helpful

5 out of 5

Amazing website and equally amazing notes

Ashutosh (verified owner)–June 17, 2018

Pmfias is one stop solution for all your geography and environment needs. Their videos are simply amazing and one can clearly see the hard work they put in making them. The only qualm is that one still needs to refer few text books for covering optional. If PMF can cover these too, then one wont even need going to coaching waalas

5 out of 5

Go for it!

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–May 29, 2018

Thank you for the review Sahil. Good luck!

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One person found this helpful

4 out of 5

Good but some portions can be improved

Dhruv Sharma (verified owner)–July 1, 2018

I read all the geography notes and the environment file. Didn’t read the Bio stuff.

Geography is darn good work. Though I would prefer some more refinement and additions of latest research, trends, academic dark spots etc. I’m sure there are many curve balls that UPSC can throw that ain’t part of this compendium.

I’m sorry man but Environment is below par. It covers the broader syllabus but I found it to be too static. It somehow didn’t excite me. I went through it once but somehow didn’t feel it justifies the likes of the competition.

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–May 26, 2018

Thank you for the review Surjakanta. Good luck!

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4 out of 5

Sorted Geography

Ashish Mandage (verified owner)–June 30, 2018

This is my second review .Again i want to mention that these are the finest notes for Geography.After reading and 2 or 3 revisions no one need to refer any other material.
There’s a one request to team…. Please make notes on census of india . As it is very important part of Upsc.
Final world- If you scared of geography study this notes .
Thank you

5 out of 5

Excellent

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–June 24, 2018

Thank you Vinod. Good luck with CSE 🙂

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5 out of 5

Don't go for any other notes

Vaishnavi Loke (verified owner)–July 8, 2018

Pmf is best …no need to refer majid hussain or khullar…dey r giving u in detail and depthfull knowledge of geography…all technicalities and terms explained really very well… I bought majid hussain earlier though but found it useless when I referred pmf notes…don’t go for any other notes…if u have pmf…more then enuf…just refer previous years question papers…this guys are really doing a great job… I hope they provide the same for history from optional point of view as we have many aspirants who opt for history optional and do self study…

5 out of 5

The best

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–June 21, 2018

Thank you so much Adhiyen. Good luck with CSE 🙂

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5 out of 5

Geography.

Abhishek (verified owner)–July 12, 2018

Satisfactory material available for upsc geography which is written in easy pedagogy and in sequence. If one learn whole material one would able to answer most of the question of physical n Indian geography.

5 out of 5

Feedback

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–June 17, 2018

Thank you for the feedback Sidharth. Good luck!

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5 out of 5

One stop solution for geography GS

Braja Narayan Panda (verified owner)–July 13, 2018

This is perhaps the best notes I have read. I love the way he has compiled the notes with visual representation ,then question from previous year at the end of a concept . The best part is how he connects things like while describing climatic regions he connects it with actual regions types of crops types of industry set up based on that which helps in understanding the concept in a better way.

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–July 16, 2018

Thank you for the comprehensive review Narayan. All the best with CSE prep 🙂

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5 out of 5

A must read for thorough understanding

rahulsharma.prince (verified owner)–May 22, 2018

This is a great effort. Geography seems like a cake walk to me now. The subject matter is comprehensively covered in a lucid manner. The language provided is quite easy to understand. Notes are awesome and that too at such a low price.

5 out of 5

Excellent

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–June 16, 2018

Thank you Vinoth. Good luck 🙂

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4 out of 5

I like it.

Mohd Rehan- –June 16, 2018

NCERT notes is quite good. If you learn these notes then supplement with other previous years paper then your work for UPSC will be 85% complete. I am not saying 100% because upsc usually ask stuff related with newspaper active events. So for that you have to keep in touch the hot topics. I also want to say that, make your own NCERT notes, if not possible then make the more crisp NOTES OF THIS PDF.

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Admin PMF IAS (verified owner)–May 16, 2018

Thank you for the review Suraj. Good luck with CSE 🙂

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4 out of 5

Good and comprehensive study material

SMR (verified owner)–February 23, 2018

The notes are very good. They are short and to the point. Basic concepts have been explained very clearly and coverage of topics is also good. Good job by pmfias team. I would like to recommend it to every beginner.